Ds is mostly breast fed but due to supply issues has been getting between 2 and 6-7 oz a day of formula for a few months (based on where I am in my cycle). He cannot have cows milk so he's been on soy and it seems like he's no longer tolerating that well either.
Given that its a small portion of his overall diet with mostly bm and a good amount of solid food in addition, his ped has suggested switching him to one of these instead of formula given he's almost 9 months and doing well otherwise.
I don't know which one to try or which one will give him the greatest overall benefit. His ped didn't seem to have a preference as long as the coconut almond or rice was unsweetened.
Thoughts? Is one superior to another in terms of nutrition or ease of digestion?

I would use goats milk first. DS gets that at daycare. He has a dairy allergy and tolerates it very well. I would do unsweetened almond or coconut milk as a second choice. If I remember correctly, goat milk is the closest to BM.

I would suggest researching goats milk. I've heard a lot of people say they use it for dairy allergies but our allergist told us it haste same proteins as cows milk, and a lot of researching I read said the same thing. Do you know or think there is a possibility for nut allergies? I'd do almond then coconut, but my dd is allergic to both so we do rice. If you can find hemp, I've heard good things about it. But I can't find it around here.

We haven't tried hemp but DD1 when she was a baby loved raw goat's milk from the local farm I read protein structure wise they are better than cow's milk (not sure if they were comparing pasteurized or raw).

My daughter who can't have dairy also can't have goat's milk. I would go with Hemp. If its not available locally you can order it online- its shelf stable until open (at least that is the only way I have seen it). We use soy with no issues because it was the most nutritional choice that was available to us at the time. Now 4 years later when hemp is readily available dd is set in her ways and won't try it. I would probably not do almond at 9 months for worry of a potential allergy. My dd is allergic to peanuts and we avoid all tree nuts. She is also allergic to coconut so no coconut milk. Rice, while the least likely to cause an allergic reaction also have very little nutritional value. It would be my last choice. If allergies were not an issue I would more than likely go hemp 1st, almond 2nd, coconut 3rd, rice absolutely last.

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SAHM to LR 7/26/07 and IHM 10/6/10, wife to a self proclaimed genius, ex-navy guy. Going places and doing things that I always dreamed of, but never imagined I would.

My youngest couldn't have cows milk, she was on soy formula and when she turned 1 the ped said to leave her on formula a bit longer due to the dairy issue. When it was time to switch her I asked about soy milk and rice milk and our ped said that alot of kids that drink rice milk end up anemic so not to do that, so we tried soy milk and to our shock she couldn't tolerate it, threw it all up! We ended up putting her on almond milk and it worked like a charm.

Ds is definitely not allergic to coconuts, he eats coconut oil in food (he eats what we eat, we use as a dairy substitute in things) and coconut butter on toast.
It's a good point about almonds though.......is that still a chance even if he's had peanuts and coconuts?
And I looked at some rice labels and agree there's not much in there.
We are lucky that ds is not truly allergic to dairy. It makes eczema break out and gives him cold symptoms but nothing dangerous so I'm not worried about offering him a little to try. I will read on raw vs pasteurized also, I know a lot of beneficial things get destroyed in the process. The farm we buy a lot of our meat and cheese from sells raw goats milk and I would feel good giving that to ds.

I think I could get hemp milk at a store here. I'll go look at some labels when I go later. What's in hemp that the others don't have?

Ds is definitely not allergic to coconuts, he eats coconut oil in food (he eats what we eat, we use as a dairy substitute in things) and coconut butter on toast.
It's a good point about almonds though.......is that still a chance even if he's had peanuts and coconuts?
And I looked at some rice labels and agree there's not much in there.
We are lucky that ds is not truly allergic to dairy. It makes eczema break out and gives him cold symptoms but nothing dangerous so I'm not worried about offering him a little to try. I will read on raw vs pasteurized also, I know a lot of beneficial things get destroyed in the process. The farm we buy a lot of our meat and cheese from sells raw goats milk and I would feel good giving that to ds.

I think I could get hemp milk at a store here. I'll go look at some labels when I go later. What's in hemp that the others don't have?

Peanuts, coconut and almonds are not related. So it is still possible, but if he doesn't have any actual allergies and there is no family history than I wouldn't worry about almond allergies. Its recommended to wait on highly allergic foods (in kids with allergic potential) just because its easier to treat if their is an ANA reaction. but if there is no reason to suspect an allergy then no reason to wait.

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SAHM to LR 7/26/07 and IHM 10/6/10, wife to a self proclaimed genius, ex-navy guy. Going places and doing things that I always dreamed of, but never imagined I would.